Bhakti is a state of mind. One definition of bhakti is ‘that which unites you with the divine’, and the second definition is ‘that which makes your emotions tender, chaste and pure’. Religion adopted bhakti in the form of worship to the divine, and yoga adopted bhakti in the form of emotional purification.

The crystal stone
Sri Swami Satyananda used to ask, “What is the colour of a crystal stone?” It does not have a colour. It is transparent and clear. However, if one keeps that crystal stone on a colourful cloth, the colour of the cloth can be seen in the crystal. If one keeps that crystal on a red cloth, one will see red in it. If one keeps the crystal on a black cloth, one will see black in the crystal. Whichever colour one keeps behind the crystal will be visible in the crystal. It does not mean the colour of the stone is that. The crystal stone always remains clear and transparent, yet, it reflects within itself the colour and form of whatever it comes in contact with.

The same condition arises in your lives with your emotion. It is also transparent like a crystal stone. It is clear. When your emotion comes in contact with sensorial objects, the colour of the sensorial object is visible within the emotion. If you see a bundle of currency notes on the road while walking, then greed will develop in your mind. The thought arising in the mind that ‘a bundle of currency notes is there’ affects your emotions. Through emotion, greed manifests and instigates you to pick up the bundle of notes and take it with you.
Similarly, when you see your child then affection arises in your emotion. When you see your enemy, hostility arises in your emotion. When you see someone more successful than you, jealousy manifests in your emotion. Thoughts are produced and they strengthen the emotions, which then influence the thoughts even more.

Sri Swamiji used to say that when the emotion of the heart flows towards the world and its sensorial objects, and connects with them, at that time greed, hatred, dislike, and so on, are manifested in the emotions. When the same emotion is disconnected from the world and is directed towards the inner soul, its form is that of bhakti. As long as the emotion is flowing towards the external world, its form is that of worldliness, yet when the emotion starts to flow towards the inner soul, when its diversion takes place its form is that of bhakti. Therefore, the meaning of bhakti is to redirect the emotions from the material world and direct them towards the inner soul. That is bhakti.

Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati, 6 June 2014, Kathmandu, Nepal